Guidelines for Preparation of Review Papers - Independent Study -

Prepared by Prof. Asoka Karunananda

Faculty of Information Technology University of Moratuwa 2006

Guidelines for Preparation of Review Papers -Independent Study1. Introduction On the basis of your Independent Study, you are required to produce a Review Paper for the final evaluation. This looks like a typical paper appears in a Journal or Proceedings of a Conference. As such the objective of this exercise is to give you training about how to write articles for journals and conferences. Since you have already trained to write Project Proposals, Interim Reports, and Dissertations, this extra exercise adds to your skills in scientific communications. Produce a review paper comprising of 10-15 pages, and submit it to your supervisor. Selected papers from Independent Studies will be considered for publishing in the forth coming publications by the Faculty of Information Technology. Note: Before writing a Review Paper you must have read at least one review paper from a particular area. This gives you an idea about how to write a review paper. 2. Scope of the paper You must review various research papers, and critically report on these works by incorporating your viewpoint on each of the work by the others. For this purpose, you must review a reasonable number of papers. It should be noted that you are not supposed to cut and paste from original works, but write findings from original sources in your own words. After critically reviewing papers, you should provide a summary of comparison of various approaches and works by the others. Such a comparison should refer to key concepts, advantages, disadvantages, applications, etc. of each work that you have read. The final output of the paper must be one of the following:

Identification of key issues in the area that you studied Identification major research directions in the area that you studied Recommendation of projects that can be conducted Classification of various works into categories that you define Approaches integrate some works that you read

3. Structure of the Review paper Structure of a research paper is somewhat similar to that of a dissertation. Nerveless, a paper has no chapters, but sections. A paper also does not have sections like declaration, dedication, table of contents, list of figures and appendix. Below is a general structure for a review paper.

Title of the paper Names of Authors Affiliation Abstract Body of the paper Acknowledgment Reference

Format for a review paper is given below.

Format of a Review Paper

Tile of the Paper (14pt)

Name of the Author (12pt) Faculty of Information Technology University of Moratuwa Your email

Abstract: This must be written in 9pt. Write a description about area of study, your findings, any conclusion as per your classifications, identifications, etc. Length of the abstract may be 3-4 inches.

3. Major Researches in Ontology

Here you should start reporting on your literature review. First rename the heading to reflect your area of study. After writing the opening paragraph, you can introduce various sub sections as 3.1, 3.2 to refer to different approaches/ researches in the area of study. Do not have headings, without several lines of text below them.

1. Introduction (12pt)

HIS section should give an overall picture about the paper. In this sense, the problem area, your finding through the review, final classifications, identifications, recommendations, etc. must be added. This section must necessarily be supported with references. Also give reasons for your choice of this problem area for the independent study. In a second paragraph you may give a brief description about the structure of the rest of the paper. As such, you may write like: section 2 provides an overview about the .. Section 3 is on Limit the length of the introduction to maximum of one page.

3.1 XML based modeling

Each sub section must be fully discussed using your own words. Highlight what you found. Use citations as appropriate. Use tables and figures to present various models. All figures and tables must be cited inside the text. For example, you may say that Figure 2 shows major components of an ontology modeling environments.

Your figure goes here

Figure 2 Ontology Modeling environments

2. Overview Ontological Modelling

First change the Ontological modelling in the heading to your area of study. Write a very broad overview of the subject area including its importance, key researches, applications, advancements. Here you should motivate the reader about your area of study. This section may take about one page. This section must be supported with references as mush as possible. Use the square bracket citation style, i.e. [2] inside the text. When there are more than one citations at a time, use it as for example, [1, 2]. For this section, you may use several paragraphs and sub sections as appropriate.

There can be any table or figure without citing them inside the text. Whenever there is a figure or table remember to report the essence of those in the text. Under section 3, you need a discussion about a reasonable set of approaches, by setting several subheadings such as 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 , 3.5. Surely, you will have more subsections, if you have done a comprehensive review. Altogether Section 3 may have about five pages, but this is dependent on the richness of your literature survey.

4. Applications of Ontology
Depending on your area of study, you may have several other topics, under which you want to give more details. Add such topics as section 4, section 5, section 6, etc.

5. Ontology development environments

Again you may have several subheadings under this section.

6. Future direction of Ontology 7. Discussion

Give a summary of all what you found and where you will be moving next. Use tables and figures to present your ideas.

7. Your contribution
First rename the heading Your contribution to reflect your finding. This may be your classification, identification, integration, proposal, etc. This section should report your findings in a very critical and logical manner. This is your actual findings after the independent study.

Acknowledgement
Here, you should thank to your supervisor, departments, funding agencies if any, and all those who supported for your independent study.

Reference
This is a list of reference, which is arranged in alphabetical order of the authors, and numbered. Format is given below. Remember length of the list of reference is an indication about the depth and breadth of your independent study. Note: All the items coming in the list of Reference must necessarily be cited inside the body of the text. Items that not cited must be removed from the list of reference.
[1] Farquhar, A., Fikes, R. and Rice, J. 1997. The Ontolingua Server: a tool for collaborative Ontology construction, International Journal of HumanComputer Studies, 46, 707-727. [2] Gorkom, N.V. 2004. Abhidhamma and http://www.abhidhamma.org/ Practice,

[3] Gruber, T. A. (1993), A Translation Approach to portable Ontology Specification, Knowledge Acquisition, 5(2) 199-220 [4] Guarino, N. (1997), Understanding, building and using ontologies, International Journal of HumanComputer Studies, 46, 293-310